Russo: Time to rebuild trust in Gardens government

The cloak of confidentiality meant to protect the Houston Astros and county from competitors doomed hopes to put a baseball complex in Palm Beach Gardens because it damaged residents’ trust in their government leaders, City Council Member Joe Russo said Monday.

Russo, poised to call a vote Thursday to eliminate the 117th Court North site from contention, said the $110 million project – a spring training facility for the Astros and Toronto Blue Jays – had many positives but keeping it secret for a year while the plan germinated ended up creating so much public distrust that it was impossible to have a discussion about its merits and how its negatives might be eased.

“It’s too late,” he said.

“The council was elected to serve residents, not to give them what they don’t want,” he added.

Those neighbors who objected to the stadium represent a minority of the city’s population, but an important one, he said.

Russo said that at Thursday’s council meeting, city officials will explain how the proposal came about “and why we thought it wasn’t a bad idea to begin with.” But the upshot, he said he hoped, will be a vote to make clear that, though most of the site is owned by the county, nothing will be built on it without city permission and residents’ involvement, he said.

“People should have faith in government. Unfortunately, they lost their faith in us and you could see that.”

Residents’ protests led the city administration last month to ask the Palm Beach County government to take the lead in helping the teams find a site elsewhere in the county. County Commissioner Hal Valeche, whose district includes Palm Beach Gardens, is scheduled to meet with top county officials Tuesday afternoon to map out a strategy for the search.